Hilton shuttle from Garden Grove parking lot

[sharona]

We'll be staying at Embassy Suites on S. Harbor. There's a shuttle to/from the parks from right in front of the hotel for $6 pp/day. With 4 of us x 4 park days and maybe 1 more for DTD on our arrival day, that adds up. Worth it for the convenience? Anyone have experience with this service? Crowded? Frequency? Is there a better option? How much is the ART? What about Uber/Lyft? Is that too short of a ride for them to be interested? Do all of these options drop off in the same location?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[cruisehopeful]

Uber/Lyft has a minimum charge of $5. They will happily drive you that distance for $5., the trick will be if you find a car that can seat all 4 of you. If not, order 2 cars and you are still saving money over the Embassy shuttle. Here is the link to ART. You can figure out your route and the fees on their site. http://rideart.org/

 

[amyg1975]

Just an FYI, I read that kids were less than $6 per day. I think it said $3. Still cheaper doing Uber. Do you have any kids in a car seat?

 

[sharona]

Uber/Lyft has a minimum charge of $5. They will happily drive you that distance for $5., the trick will be if you find a car that can seat all 4 of you. If not, order 2 cars and you are still saving money over the Embassy shuttle. Here is the link to ART. You can figure out your route and the fees on their site. http://rideart.org/

Good to know, thanks! We'll probably use Uber/Lyft if they are readily available. Do you know where they drop off? Is it similar to the bus or shuttles? I know how tiring walking the parks can be and we'd like to cut down on any extra walking if we can.

Just an FYI, I read that kids were less than $6 per day. I think it said $3. Still cheaper doing Uber. Do you have any kids in a car seat?

Our "kids" are 14 and adult size.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Imdboss]

We stayed there in Aug 2015 and the shuttle service was about the only thing we liked about that hotel. Our experience was that it left the hotel right on time every time, 15 and 45 after the hour then from DL on the hour and half hour. It was nice knowing what time to be in line for the shuttle without waiting around for 20 min like with ART. It typically wasn't too crowded, the couple times everyone couldn't fit they'd send another bus to get us. The other nice thing about it is it doesn't make any other stops.

 

[sharona]

We stayed there in Aug 2015 and the shuttle service was about the only thing we liked about that hotel. Our experience was that it left the hotel right on time every time, 15 and 45 after the hour then from DL on the hour and half hour. It was nice knowing what time to be in line for the shuttle without waiting around for 20 min like with ART. It typically wasn't too crowded, the couple times everyone couldn't fit they'd send another bus to get us. The other nice thing about it is it doesn't make any other stops.

Thanks for the info. Please elaborate about your issues with the hotel. It gets mixed reviews on TripAdvisor but more good than bad. I've stayed there once before so I know it's not a 4 or a 5 star... But, that was only 2 nights 3 years ago and we had a car to get to/from the park. We didn't use the shuttle or really spend any time there other than sleeping... for us the pros for this trip are that I can use my Hilton points so it's "free" and we need the extra space with 2 teens and we want the free breakfast to save $$.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Good to know, thanks! We'll probably use Uber/Lyft if they are readily available. Do you know where they drop off? Is it similar to the bus or shuttles? I know how tiring walking the parks can be and we'd like to cut down on any extra walking if we can.

The drop off area is on Harbor Blvd, just outside of where the shuttles let out. At the most, you'd have a one block walk, but depending on how many cars are in the drop off area, you may be much closer than that. It is very convenient and closer than the hotels across the street that are considered the closest hotels.

 

[sharona]

The drop off area is on Harbor Blvd, just outside of where the shuttles let out. At the most, you'd have a one block walk, but depending on how many cars are in the drop off area, you may be much closer than that. It is very convenient and closer than the hotels across the street that are considered the closest hotels.

Good to know! Thanks for the info.

 

[Imdboss]

Thanks for the info. Please elaborate about your issues with the hotel. It gets mixed reviews on TripAdvisor but more good than bad. I've stayed there once before so I know it's not a 4 or a 5 star... But, that was only 2 nights 3 years ago and we had a car to get to/from the park. We didn't use the shuttle or really spend any time there other than sleeping... for us the pros for this trip are that I can use my Hilton points so it's "free" and we need the extra space with 2 teens and we want the free breakfast to save $$.

Our first problem was cleanliness. There was a spoon outside our room when we arrived that sat there for 3 days, which tells me that there's a lack of attention to detail. One night we came back and there was entire bag of garbage left in our room (the bag they use to empty garbage from everyone's room), that was pretty gross. Our tv didn't work, that took 2-3 calls to get handled, and the shower head was hanging loose upon arrival. At least two of the four elevators were always out of service which is a total pain.

We only stay at Hilton properties as DH is diamond with them. When we go to DL we will only stay at the DoubleTree or the new Homewood after trying Embassy, we just stayed at Homewood using points and had a great time.

 

[sharona]

Our first problem was cleanliness. There was a spoon outside our room when we arrived that sat there for 3 days, which tells me that there's a lack of attention to detail. One night we came back and there was entire bag of garbage left in our room (the bag they use to empty garbage from everyone's room), that was pretty gross. Our tv didn't work, that took 2-3 calls to get handled, and the shower head was hanging loose upon arrival. At least two of the four elevators were always out of service which is a total pain.

We only stay at Hilton properties as DH is diamond with them. When we go to DL we will only stay at the DoubleTree or the new Homewood after trying Embassy, we just stayed at Homewood using points and had a great time.

Thanks for the info. We usually stay at Hiltons as well - Garden Inn's are my favorite but that's too small for us this trip. Sounds like you had a rough stay at ES! Hopefully the elevator issues have been resolved and we won't run into any cleanliness issues during our stay - I didn't see anything about either issue in any of the recent reviews. Those with complaints are mostly about slow/no wifi in the rooms. DD14 will be running up our data usage for sure if that is the case. I'll have to add extra data for that month or consider switching to an unlimited plan.

I considered the new Homewood but they price their suites to be premium rewards and staying there would require more than double the number of points as the ES. That's definitely out of my points range for the 5 day stay, as are the Doubletree's suite rooms. With my teenage nephew along, the extra room and privacy are our main priority so HGI and Hampton are out.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

 

[wongck]

Was at Hampton Inn in Dec 2016, and we shared the shuttle with all 3 Hilton hotels there.
The shuttle was very on time, and in the mornings there was 2 shuttles leaving together, so you will be able to get there for RD.
I took the 7.15am every day and reaches by 7.25-7.30am depending on the lights (traffic was very light).

We had 5-days park tickets and I purchased 7 days tickets for the price of 5 days from Getaway Tours.
IIRC, They have 5 days tickets for 3 days tickets price.
It's unlimited rides per day, so we took afternoon breaks at no cost for transport.

Getting back to the Hotel, after park close, there was a line, of course but we can still get on the shuttle (standing mostly).

 

[sharona]

Was at Hampton Inn in Dec 2016, and we shared the shuttle with all 3 Hilton hotels there.
The shuttle was very on time, and in the mornings there was 2 shuttles leaving together, so you will be able to get there for RD.
I took the 7.15am every day and reaches by 7.25-7.30am depending on the lights (traffic was very light).

We had 5-days park tickets and I purchased 7 days tickets for the price of 5 days from Getaway Tours.
IIRC, They have 5 days tickets for 3 days tickets price.
It's unlimited rides per day, so we took afternoon breaks at no cost for transport.

Getting back to the Hotel, after park close, there was a line, of course but we can still get on the shuttle (standing mostly).

Thanks for the info. I bought tix already from LMT. Got them for $45 below dl website price. We're only doing 4 park days.

 

[wongck]

Uber/Lyft has a minimum charge of $5. They will happily drive you that distance for $5., the trick will be if you find a car that can seat all 4 of you.

Great that you already got your tickets cheaoer.

Just for information, we took Lyft from Paradise Pier Hotel to the Mi Casa Mexican restaurant, a block away from the hotel on our free "resort visiting" day. The kids was hungry and tired so I did not want to walk all the way back to East Esplanade shuttle pickup location. Lyft came within 3 minutes and the ride itself was $8. So it should be around $10 each way by Lyft.

All the Lyft I took was able to seat my family of 4.

 

[scrapshappen]

We've stayed at the Embassy Suites there several times with points and have no complaints. We booked it again for our next trip because we had enough points for a 5 night stay there. We like the Garden Inns generally too but my boys won't share a bed any more so for that long of a stay, we need a little more space. We don't do the shuttle because we found it cheaper to park at Toy Story than the shuttle. But we've always had a car with us too which it sounds like you won't have.

 

[sharona]

Great that you already got your tickets cheaoer.

Just for information, we took Lyft from Paradise Pier Hotel to the Mi Casa Mexican restaurant, a block away from the hotel on our free "resort visiting" day. The kids was hungry and tired so I did not want to walk all the way back to East Esplanade shuttle pickup location. Lyft came within 3 minutes and the ride itself was $8. So it should be around $10 each way by Lyft.

All the Lyft I took was able to seat my family of 4.

Good info thanks! I wasn't thinking about back and forth for breaks when I was comparing the shuttle to uber/lyft. Since we will break back to the hotel mid day on 3 of our 4 days the shuttle may be our least expensive option and we can supplement like you did with lyft or uber for dinner out if we don't feel like walking.

We've stayed at the Embassy Suites there several times with points and have no complaints. We booked it again for our next trip because we had enough points for a 5 night stay there. We like the Garden Inns generally too but my boys won't share a bed any more so for that long of a stay, we need a little more space. We don't do the shuttle because we found it cheaper to park at Toy Story than the shuttle. But we've always had a car with us too which it sounds like you won't have.

Glad to know that it was decent enough that you will be going back! Our issue is the same. DD14 and I can share but my SIL and 14 yo almost 6 ft tall nephew cannot so we need the pull out sofa. And now that the kids are both older, it's a big plus having a bedroom with a door when we are all scrambling around getting ready to go out. When the kids were younger and we would share a standard room, we would send my nephew into the bathroom with his video game while the girls all got dressed in the room. Not the best option but definitely the fastest!